New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-23
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
RFIIGInIrS TOLERANCE.

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE.
TOLERANCE Two Lectures addressed to the Students
Episcopal Church. By faIILIPs BROOKS, Rector OF
Trinity Church. Boston. svo, Pr. III. T. r Du''oh
HIS STAR IN THE EAST Study in the Early Arysn
Religions ny LEIGHTON PARKS. Rector o. Em hian
mel Church, Boston svo. PIP ZsA houS"''''
DR.. Bro0kss two lectures on reigions Ioiei"n
not ouly furnish strong and unanswerao.e p'0"
for toleration but. from literary poin' VI ~
they form delightful bit of artistic work. ino
delicate and subtle way in which he "eaVos W.
rethcr apt illustrations, clever sim'ies' telling
facts aud cogent arguments so as 10 haae ol 'hoip
all one complete mosaic OF thought Is as strlkihe'y
dsplaved in these lectures as III his other published
works IL is needless to say, of course that Dr'
Brooks believes thoroughly in tolerance he be-
eves in it. he saws because truth is larger than any
one mans conception of ii, and because what oi,en
seem 10 be other mems errors are often o'ner
marta of the truth of which they have only por-
tion. The truly tolerant man loves truth ana man
equally: no who loves truth only becomes cruel
while he who loves man only becomes weak ana
sentimental.
"Everv trne churchman," says Dr. Brooks
"tbat is every man who truly values his place IN
the Christian Church-it seems to me- must THINK OF
himself as standing in the midst OF four concentrlc
circles What are they Outermost OF ali, there
as men. are something to this man. 1t is the cen
seriousness Homo Sum- the consciousness which
the Latin poet crowded into his immortal line
which fills this circle with vitality. Next within
this lies the circle Of religion-smaer than the
other because oil men are not religious
but large enough to include all those
of every NAME Of every creed who count their LIE
the subject and of Divine ife which Is their
King Next within this lies the circle of Christian
ity including all those who, under any conception
of Him. honestly own for their master Jesus CHRIST
and then Utmost of all there Is the circle OF the
mans own peculiar church, the group OF those
whose thought and worship is in general identical
with his own who stands in the centre and feels all
these four circles surrounding him.
And so the tolerant mind looks forward with
Eager longing to the time when oil special churches
shall lose themselves In universal religion, pro-
fessed and followed by all mankind. How fortunate
IL would be if all theological students would heed
those golden words of Dr. Brooks. with which he
closes his lectures: "Be more afraid of the little
ness than of the largeness of life Seek with study
and with prayer for the most clear and confident
convictions and when you have won them hold
them so largely and vitality that they shall be 10
YOU not the walls which separate you from your
brethren who have other convictions than yours,
but the medium through which you enter into IN
derstanding of and sympathy with them-as the
ocean, which once the barrier between the ma
tons is now the highway for their ncver-resting
ships and makes the whole world one.'
MI Parks strikes the same note Of liberation in
his book, "The Star in the East" He aims to show
that there is some element of truth in all religions,
and that, in certain sense, all religions have in
them divine element. Mr.. Parks modestly dis
clams any scholarship IN his treatment of this
great subject and simply confines himself to
giving in popular and readable form some Of the |
latest conclusions in the new sceuce of compare
tive religion. Perhaps the following extract from
the preface to the book will give the best idea of
the point of view from which the author regards |
some of the great religions of the world: The |
questions considered here have direct bearing on |
the problem missions to the neutrality-suspicious.
which are coming TO the front with startling rapid
ity. All went we'll as long as the moral
sense of mankind did not revolt from the dogma
that every soul that had not heard the gospel
should he damned. But no man be found who
believes that to-day. By what rule then shall they
be Judged We must begin with the faith |
that He tthe Father has been speaking to His
children all along, and that their SIM like ours,
consists in not obeyIng that gracious voice. Call
1t tue natural reason. If you will, but do not say
that it differs in kind from revelation,
or you viii have asserted that of
the Father, which will be the strongest proof that
He is no Father; for Father wants the salvation
of every child, and must be giving all the time to
each child all the knowledge and all the grace that
the child is capable of receiving" After reading
this, it is not surprising to fiud that Mr.. Parks
dwells chiefly on what he considers the Divine ele-
ment in the Aryan religions aud in this way links
them with Christianity Whether such teachings
will - cut the nerve of missions" or not is for the
theologians to say but they certainly explain many
facts for which other adequate explanation can
be gwen.